Recruitment Examination

"Oh--"

Looking up from the bustling crowd, Tian Sheng couldn't help but yawn.

With dark circles under his eyes, messy hair like a bird's nest, and an outdated jacket... if he weren't wearing his exam admission ticket and standing outside the exam hall, people would probably mistake him for a homeless person from who-knows-where.

In fact, because his appearance was rather suspicious, the security guards not far away had been secretly watching him. Even if Tian Sheng was slow to notice, he could sense the subtle gazes fixed on him.

Somewhat embarrassed, he picked up the bottled water he was carrying, took a sip, and then reluctantly moved away from the crowd to prove he was harmless.

It wasn't his intention to have his personal image become like this; he simply didn't have the time or energy to manage it.

In order to prepare for the recruitment exam of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, he has been studying hard every night recently. Apart from his work time at the welfare home during the day, he has spent almost all his time reading and writing, leaving him with no energy to pay attention to the trivial matters in life.

The recruitment exam of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau is an important opportunity for most Mage who want to obtain stable employment.

As long as they have no criminal record and a clean background, every Mage can try to pass the exam to enter the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau and become an official, enjoying more favorable conditions and environment than when researching Spell Formula in the private sector.

As a law-abiding commoner Mage, Tian Sheng's Spell Formula are average, but that doesn't stop him from wanting to join the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.

During this period, even his sleep time was squeezed out. Even though he knew he had an exam today, so he went to bed early last night, he couldn't make up for the sleep he had missed over the past few days in just one day.

At times like these, Tian Sheng would miss his student self from many years ago: back then, he could stay up for many nights in a row and then be full of energy after just one night's sleep; but now, he no longer has that kind of energy to squander.

He gently ran his fingers along the corner of his eye, wiping away the tears that had welled up from his yawn. Looking towards the exam hall door, Tian Sheng couldn't help but smack his lips. "I need to catch up on sleep for the next few days."

Although the exams haven't even started yet, he's already imagining the carefree days that will come after everything is over and he walks out of the exam hall.

No wonder he was so excited; he had put in so much effort to prepare for today's exam. And now that all that hard work was finally coming to an end, he was naturally feeling a strange sense of excitement.

It was out of this excitement that he arrived at the examination hall gate early in the morning and waited there before the examination hall opened.

Of course, he wasn't the only one with this idea; quite a few people had gathered at the main entrance to wait.

Some of these people were muttering to themselves, probably reciting from a book; others were staring intently at their paper handouts, seemingly cramming for something at the last minute; still others had spread out their books and practice sets, making the most of every second to identify the key and difficult questions.

Ha, a bunch of academic failures.

Standing on the edge of the crowd, watching this scene, Tian Sheng felt a sense of relief from the hardships of preparing for the exam, and a strange sense of superiority arose in his heart.

A strange smile appeared on his face as he sipped the mineral water in his hand as if it were some kind of expensive beverage.

Unfortunately, no one present could understand his feelings. His strange behavior made him seem even more suspicious, thus making the security guards more vigilant.

So, with only half an hour left before the exam started, when the exam room door was opened, all the other candidates were allowed into the exam room normally, but Tian Sheng was stopped at the door.

After being repeatedly questioned by security guards and having his information checked multiple times, Tian Sheng entered the examination room amidst their apologies. At this point, only fifteen minutes remained before the exam was scheduled to begin.

Carrying bottled water and a pencil case, he walked briskly until the security booth at the main gate was no longer in sight. Then, Tian Sheng suddenly turned around and gave the middle finger in the direction he had come from.

After giving the middle finger, he seemed to feel that wasn't enough to vent his anger, so he gritted his teeth and extended his little finger, then reversed it and gave the thumbs up, and then simultaneously gave the middle fingers to the distance with both hands... until the candidates passing by all started looking at him with strange eyes, Tian Sheng withdrew his hands and continued walking as if nothing had happened.

"If I really get hired, I'll definitely find a chance to come back and teach them a lesson," he thought to himself.

Of course, this can only be wishful thinking.

The exam venue for this recruitment was not at the headquarters of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, but at a training institution under the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau's jurisdiction. The location was not close to the city center, and it would take more than half an hour to drive there. This meant that he would have to spend an extra half hour's worth of travel expenses to come here in the future, which was completely not worth it.

With these jumbled thoughts running through his mind, Tian Sheng followed the crowd into the examination hall, recalling his examination room and seat number, and searching for his examination location in the corridor.

The teaching building where the exam was held was somewhat old, and the interior decoration style showed that it had been built for many years. Such buildings were not uncommon in the welfare home where he worked. Walking through it would subconsciously remind him of his usual work.

The same old building, the same bustling environment—it all calmed his previously resentful mood inexplicably.

At the same time, it also reminded me of my recent worries.

For the past few months, he's felt like he's forgotten something.

The process was hard to explain, but starting from a certain day, he suddenly couldn't remember what he had done in the previous few days.

He vaguely remembered that he had gone to work at the orphanage as usual those few days, and then he encountered a crisis: a Gray Magic Organization had infiltrated the orphanage and planned a very brutal terrorist attack, killing many people.

However, despite what should have been an unforgettable experience, he always felt it was as unreal as a dream.

In his memory, he seemed to always be hiding in the storage room, only daring to emerge after the terrorists were subdued by the magical girls and the Bureau of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau.

However, his subconscious kept telling him: things weren't like that, and everything wasn't that simple. His experience must have been much more exciting than that.

This left him completely baffled.

He knew very well what kind of person he was: afraid of death and pleasure-seeking. If a terrorist attack were to occur, he would definitely hide in a secluded place until the very end, which would be the most in line with his character.

He wouldn't rashly expose his life to danger; that would be too unwise.

This is the source of his contradiction: the behavior in his memory perfectly matched his personality and his interests; everything seemed so reasonable. So why did it still feel so unreal?

Why did he feel that he played a role in the terrorist attack on the welfare home?

Is it simply a case of adolescent delusions of grandeur?

Lost in thought about these questions, he didn't pay attention to what was in front of him and suddenly felt a bump on his shoulder.

He turned his head and saw a young man in the uniform of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau standing next to him, with an examination room sign hanging on his chest, who seemed to be the proctor for this exam.

"... Oh, I'm sorry."

Provoking the invigilator in the examination room is not a wise choice. For the sake of his exam results, Tian Sheng quickly lowered his head and admitted his mistake. "I was distracted just now and didn't watch where I was going. I'm really sorry."

His apology was very straightforward, but after he finished speaking, there was no response from the other end.

After bumping into him on the shoulder, the young man stopped for some reason, stood there, and just stared at him silently without saying a word.

This made Tian Sheng's scalp tingle instantly, and he wondered if the invigilator held a grudge against him. Being disliked by the invigilator before the exam was a very bad thing. If the invigilator was really petty, he was afraid he would be harassed during the exam.

He had prepared for this exam for so long; how could he tolerate his hard work being negated by external factors?

Let's try explaining a bit more and see if we can gain the other party's understanding.

As he thought about it, he began to recall and ponder how he had provoked this man in that brief moment, but he couldn't find any possible reason.

Was it because I spaced out during the exam that I gave him a bad impression? Or did he simply dislike physical contact?

Just as he was racking his brains trying to figure it out, the young man in front of him suddenly started moving again.

He remained silent, without even a change in expression, as if Tian Sheng didn't exist in his field of vision at all. Without giving him a chance to say anything more, he turned around and left with his back to Tian Sheng.

This left Tian Sheng somewhat dumbfounded, unsure whether he should chase after her to explain.

If I chase after them, what if they find me annoying? If I don't, won't I miss my last chance to apologize?

This decision was not easy, so he broke out in a sweat. Just as he was worrying about it, he felt a sudden itch on the tip of his nose. He subconsciously reached out to scratch it, but a small black shadow suddenly slipped from his hand and flew forward.

Tian Sheng's dynamic vision was not bad, so he could vaguely make out that it was a moth.

Under his gaze, the moth flew forward until it reached the strange man behind him, hovered for a moment, and then landed on his collar.

This completely shut down Tian Sheng's thinking.

What happened? What happened? Did I see it wrong?

A series of questions popped into his mind, causing him to subconsciously rub his eyes. When he looked again, the moth had vanished.

"... Is it Spell Formula?" Tian Sheng muttered to himself, "Never mind, it's better not to talk to this weirdo anymore."

He was here to take the exam, not to meddle. No matter how strange the proctor seemed, it was none of his business.

Perhaps the other party's strange behavior and that moth were just a warning? Or a prank? Oh well, who cares?

Shaking his head, Tian Sheng stopped thinking about it and continued walking in the direction he had come from. Soon, he and the young man in the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau uniform left the place and disappeared at both ends of the corridor.

The somewhat secluded corridor fell silent once again.

Of course, it's not entirely accurate to say it's quiet, because if someone were to stop and listen carefully, they would hear a very faint background noise.

Tian Sheng also failed to realize that the direction in which the young man appeared was actually quite unusual.

The young man emerged from an emergency exit in the stairwell, and the faint noise came from the shadows around that exit. If you got closer, you could hear a faint rustling sound coming from within.

The faint sounds of friction and collision were lost in the darkness and went unnoticed by anyone.